More than 2 million youth, representing over 130 nations and ethnicities peacefully converge on the notoriously hedonistic Brazilian Copacabana Beach with Pope Francis to experience the Stations of the Cross and religious services. Then the next day, more than 3 million are in attendance for another mass to end the World Youth Day celebration. Pope Francis’s consistent message to the youth was to reach out to the marginalized and those living in the fringes of society; those most in need.

The Mercury News had the opportunity to present, literally, millions of youth role models, albeit Catholic, to the Bay Area with front-page photo coverage several days over the weekend and didn’t. The article on these events was pushed to page 10 — really? Don’t our youth deserve better?

I’m a proud Catholic and a disappointed reader.

Kristen Salvi

San Jose

State has already decided on viability

Peter Miron-Conk (Letters, July 26) asks to focus on when the fetus becomes a child. We should not look to the state to decide such metaphysical questions. The state can, however, decide when its interest in the fetus begins. That issue has been long decided: at viability. Viability is a medical issue, not a metaphysical issue. The metaphysical issues can be left to the religionists and philosophers.

Vernon V. Chatman III

San Jose

Humanists refuse to see abortion as murder

The issue of when life begins is critical, because the answer defines murder. Secular humanists don’t want to answer it, so they attempt to deflect it as a religious question. They would rather treat the issue of abortion as one of a woman’s right to privacy than be required to consider that it could be murder.

Thomas E. Bouman

San Jose

Accountability needed in Asiana plane crash

The lack of public accountability for the Asiana plane crash events needs to be resolved. There is a serious need for a formal inquest or a grand jury hearing where witnesses can testify for the record about the circumstances of Ye Meng Yuan’s death. One senseless death in 300 is still one senseless death. In China, families are allowed only one child, adding immensely to the infinite value of her family’s loss.

William Graham

Salinas

Arts needed as visual connection to learning

Kudos on Angela McConnell’s op-ed on the Common Core standards and arts integration (July 26). Steve Jobs advocated the importance of the arts in his commencement address at Stanford in 2005. He shared how a class in calligraphy inspired his business vision and success. Aesthetic design and illustration intersect learning in every discipline. Graphic design and artworks illustrate how we see, learn and understand concepts in all of education. Bravo to Montalvo Arts Center and their leadership in partnering with local schools to design a model for interdisciplinary education that builds the foundation for excellence in education as we adapt the Common Core standards. I hope that Google, Apple, Facebook, Adobe and all of the Silicon Valley industrial leaders will follow this example and generously fund the arts in integrated ways to design and promote the very best in education using the arts as a visual connection for all learning.

Margo Wixsom

Teacher, Palo Alto High School

‘Population bomb’ no myth on this planet

What planet does Dan O’Connell live on (Letters, July 30) if he is calling the “population bomb” a myth? On this planet the bomb is already exploding. We are on the approach path to 10 billion people. Humans are causing the largest extinction crisis of plants and animals since the start of the last ice age. We are fouling the oceans, fresh water sources and air, destroying the lands and overheating the planet.

O’Connell is worried there won’t be enough young people to support old people in the manner in which they are used to living. I’m worried that the planet won’t support anyone in any manner worth living in a few more generations. The rewards of a sustainable population are innumerable; the disadvantages of a growing population are getting to the point that they are insurmountable.

Tina Peak

Palo Alto

Pope’s remarks about gays are anachronistic

How nice that so many are trying to find a ray of hope in Pope Frances’s remarks about gay and lesbian people. In reality, Pope Francis is an even more dangerous version of Benedict XVI because he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has a warm and humble facade, all the while supporting the same vicious and cruel doctrine that makes the Catholic Church an anachronism in the 21st century.

How dare Pope Francis claim not to judge, and in the same breath say gay and lesbian people need to be forgiven. I don’t need to be forgiven for my sexual orientation, but I suspect Pope Francis and his ilk need a great deal of forgiving for the ignorance and hatred they inspire.